IRRI-KIIB  - Conference Address

 INTERVENTION OF

H.E. MR. SALI BERISHA, PRIME MINISTER OF ALBANIA

"Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

It is indeed a great honor and privilege to address this audience, this evening, after the productive meetings I had with leaders of the European Union and the Prime Minister of Belgium.

My visit here takes place in a time of paramount importance for my country and in a time when great decisions of immense magnitude are being made for our region of the South Eastern Europe.

Let me briefly go through some of the main challenges we are about to face and then try to entertain your questions and comments.

Following its victory in the last elections on the third of July 2005, the Center Right Coalition that I lead in my country has engaged in delivering the promises we made during the electoral campaign. Our efforts aim at one thing: Providing quick and solid solutions to the major problems my country is facing.  These problems involve restoration of the rule of law, demolition of the system of corruption, fight with zero tolerance against organized crimes and criminal trafficking, reform of the property restitution and compensation law, and rescue of the economy from informality and extra legality in order to transform Albania into an attractive country for foreign direct investments and to integrate Albania in the European Union and NATO. For this reason, the program of the Government that we have designed includes deep and comprehensive reforms in order to provide the best solutions to the problems I mentioned above.

I am pleased to say that whoever takes a look at the electoral or the Government’s program will come to a conclusion that the program corresponds fully with the recommendations that the European Commission has put in its yearly reports and in the European Partnership regarding Albania. I can easily call the program a “Roadmap to Europe”.

We promised Albanians a Government that is small, but at the same time efficient. The governmental team I put together is composed mostly by young politicians and technocrats who have been educated in the West. In close cooperation with the UNDP, my Government has begun a BRAINGAINING PROJECT, which aims at the temporary or permanent repatriation of the most qualified Albanian experts, who I like to call excellencies, and Albanian celebrities. At the same time, we have embarked on streamlining the government. Currently, we have reduced the number of Ministries to 14 from 18 in the previous Government. We have reduced and reorganized a public administration in full conformity and proportionality with the needs and dimensions of the country.

Our first priority is to restore people’s confidence in their Government. However, corruption cases have eroded this confidence for quite some time now. We believe that “clean hands” are a prerequisite for a successful Government.

During the last years, corruption in Albania had turned into a fully organized system, a real cancer. According to the reports of international organizations such as the World Bank and Transparency International, corruption increased by 400 percent from 1996 to 2004.

In order to fight corruption and put good governance into effect, we have amended the Law on Conflict of Interests. We have also nullified all former decisions that allowed for conflict of interests. As a case in point, we have stopped a practice in Albania whereby the wage of a director, in all directorial boards, was decided by the members of the board whose compensation was defined as a percentage of the Director’s wage. On other occasions in the past, some ministers had built their own private monopolies in the Albanian economy.

As regards the fight against corruption in the lower levels of public administration, we replaced the previous corruptive practices with those that are in conformity with legal and ethical standards of the western world. In the same vein, we are in the process of amending the law on public procurement and on concessions. We have already planned to set up the office of Ombudsman for public procurement with the participation of the civil society, and we will apply the e-government in order to secure its transparency. 

Our fight against corruption is in its initial phase, nevertheless, the initial results of our effort are encouraging: My cabinet is now designed entirely free of any conflict of interest and the same is being done with public administration. In the first two months of the new Government, there has been an increase of 25 percent in the budget income, and this is only due to the enforcement of the right standards of ethics in the government and public administration behavior and by cutting abusive operational expenditures, even without any imposition of an increase in the taxes. On the contrary, we have achieved to lower taxes and increase governmental employees’ wages by 20 percent. The ex-monopolies of former ministers have now been eradicated.

The fight against organized crime remains a high priority for my Government. The bosses of the main and most dangerous criminal organizations of the country and several trafficking organizations have been apprehended and brought before the court of justice. In order to prevent criminal trafficking towards Italy and the West, we have declared a three year suspension (memorandum) on the sail of all high-speed small boats in our waters. We were able to achieve tangible results in the above mentioned areas, above all, due to our solid political will to stand firmly against organized crime and to cut its ties with the political power. We will continue to destroy, with the iron hand of the law, those ties and will intensify our campaign against organized crime.

My Government is committed to work hard to sustain the fight against organized crimes as we are convinced that it is not only in our interest but also in the interest of the European Union that we continue this fight. The present developments prove that what was before a “soft security” threat has by now acquired dimensions of a “hard security” threat. Organized crime can corrode the foundations of the state. It knows no borders. It is also easily connectable with terrorism. It is for those reasons and more that we will apply “zero tolerance” in our fight against organized crime.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In spite of the macroeconomic stability, and the high and stable economic growth, Albania remains a poor country beset with poor infrastructure and a high level of unemployment. However, Albania has a young, educated and dynamic labor force, and the price of labor is quite reasonable. Albania has an excellent geographic position, enormous resources for tourism and energy production, minerals and mines, as well as many other advantages that make her a small country with great real opportunities for foreign investors. We are committed to install the most liberal practices that could facilitate business and investment. We shall make Albania a one-stop-shop for foreign direct investments.

I would like to inform you that in the first week of our Government, we were able to cut the taxes of small business by 50 percent, and by the end of the year we are lowering all other taxes by 30 percent. We have also planned the construction of industrial parks and free zones for business.

The land reform, the end of informality and extra legality are prerequisites for restoring the rule of law as well as for promoting the market economy and the social welfare of the country. According to a reliable study conducted at the beginning of the year, the relationship between formality and informality in Albania has been 1 to 1.4. The Government has prepared, in cooperation with the UNDP, a clear plan for pulling Albanian economy rapidly from informality, for legalizing some 220 thousand constructions of extra legality, as well as for compensating former landowners in accordance with the rules and the price of the market.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Not so long ago, the Region of South Eastern Europe looked like a helpless region, torn out by wars and ethnic conflicts and plagued by regressive phenomena. I believe that since the end of the Kosovo conflict and the fall of Milosevic regime, the region has irreversibly entered a new era and has reached a point of no return in its European journey. With Croatia having started with its accession negotiations, Macedonia becoming a candidate country, Albania reaching the end of negotiations for a SAA, while Serbia and Monte Negro as well as Bosnia Herzegovina have begun their SAA negotiations, the region certainly looks a far safer and better place than what it was even 5 years ago. The start of the negotiations for the status of Kosova is another landmark event that will further strengthen the stability of the region of South Eastern Europe. Albania will continue to remain a loyal and constructive player in the region and will spare no efforts in trying to promote peace and stability.

The coalition Government that I lead has supported the principles of the European Union for finding a solution on the status of Kosova, that is, recognition of its international borders and NON-UNION with any other country. The Government of Albania insists on the full respect for the rights and the freedoms of the Serb and other minorities in Kosova, return of the refugees, implementation of decentralization and a constructive dialog between Prishtina and Belgrade. With regard to the issue of status, we believe that the solution on the future status of Kosova must respect the free will of the citizens of Kosova, who have clearly expressed on many occasions, their will for an independent Kosova. This decision on the future status must be reached in close cooperation with the international community, in particular the Contact Group. We believe that this is the only viable solution for peace and stability in the region.

Let me finally come to the issue of the policies of the European Union towards my country and the Western Balkans in general. Since the Zagreb Summit and more intensively after the Thessalonica Summit, relations between European Union and the Western Balkans have intensified and progressed immensely. The Stabilization and Association Process proved to be a successful tool and incentive. It provided a well-structured reform agenda framework that gave the necessary drive to the efforts of our countries. The result is that our countries are actually at a different situation to what they were 5 years ago vis-à-vis the EU.  To be frank, not all the areas identified in Thessalonica have marked progress. Facilitation of the visa regime still remains an area needing attention and proper action.

Albania and the European Union are getting ready to conclude their negotiations for a Stabilization and Association Agreement. Its signature will mark the beginning of a new phase in our relations.

The pressing issue, not only for my country but also the rest of the countries in the region, except for Croatia, will then be: what’s next? My feeling would be that the European Union would have to be creative and provide further incentives that will help the countries in this region progress further. Further progress will be translated in closer links with the European Union. “Potential candidate status” could be converted in “candidate status”. This would be of outmost importance because it would address an issue of strategic importance: Completing Europe."

 

More information on:  

- H.E. Mr. Sali Berisha, Prime Minister of Albania - his cv:  http://www.keshilliministrave.al/english/kryeministri/jeteshkrimi.asp

- Homepage Prime Minister: http://www.keshilliministrave.al/english/default.asp

- Government Program 2005-2009 - Presented in the Albanian Parliament, Tirana on, September 9, 2005: http://www.keshilliministrave.al/english/programi/Anglisht%20programi.htm

 -Timeline: Albania  - A chronology of key events – Info from BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1004984.stm

-Albania News - Albania News continually updated from thousands of sources around the net : http://www.topix.net/world/albania

- Albania Newspapers and News Media Guide: http://www.abyznewslinks.com/alban.htm

- EU Parl: "Third Stability Pact Parliamentary Conference" - Enhancing Security and Political Stability Through Economic Co-operation: progress on the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe - Tirana, 14-16 October 2002